Nestor Cortes Jr. helps Yankees slay White Sox

Nestor Cortes Jr. is the reason Yankees are 13 games over .500 all .No Rizzo, No Gerrit Cole, No Jordan Montgomery, Urshela, Gleyber Torres…no issue does not matter. Nestor Cortes Jr. stymied the White Sox during six strong innings, and the New York Yankees held on for a 5-3 win over host Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

Cortes (1-1) allowed one run on seven hits against a hot-hitting Chicago squad that entered the game with 14 runs in the first two games of the series. He walked one and whiffed seven as New York won the series’ rubber match.

Rougned Odor and Luke Voit each had a two-run homers to lead the Yankees at the plate. Brett Gardner doubled and drew a pair of walks.

Andrew Vaughn hit a solo homer for Chicago, which dropped its second series in a row.

White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (9-9) failed in his bid to notch double-digit victories for the third time in his career. He gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out eight.

Yankees relievers Stephen Ridings, Jonathan Loaisiga, Lucas Luetge and Wandy Peralta combined to preserve the victory for Cortes.

The Yankees jumped on Giolito for a 3-0 lead in the second.

Odor opened the scoring with a two-run shot to right-center field. The 402-foot blast marked Odor’s 14th homer of the season but only his second since July 27.

DJ LeMahieu singled three batters later and came around to score on a double by Brett Gardner, coupled with a throwing error by White Sox second baseman Cesar Hernandez.

The White Sox got on the scoreboard in the sixth thanks to a solo shot by Vaughn. The rookie out of Cal turned on a 1-1 pitch for his 14th homer.

New York added two more runs in the ninth. Giancarlo Stanton led off the inning with a double to right field, and Voit followed moments later with a two-run blast to left field for his fifth homer.

An RBI double by Zack Collins pulled the White Sox within three runs in the bottom of the ninth. Tim Anderson followed with an RBI infield single to cut the deficit to 5-3.